One of the Philippines’ most famous sights, the Chocolate Hills are a unique and picturesque geological formation on the island of Bohol. Over 1,260 hills occupy an area of around 50 square kilometres; although green part of the year, during the dry season they turn brown, hence the name. Local legends tell that the hills were formed by two feuding giants who flung rocks and boulders at each other or that a heartbroken giant cried so many tears that they eroded the rock and formed hills. This last one isn’t too far from the truth, as the main theory on the hills’ formation is the millennia long weathering of marine limestone. Whichever you’d care to believe, the results is spectacular, especially when viewed from the Chocolate Hills viewpoint from where all the hills looks scenically symmetrical, even though they actually differ in size.

A source of much pride for the island of Bohol, the Chocolate Hills are also under consideration to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.